Many recreational sports, such as snowboarding, for example, involve riding a board through or atop of a medium such as air, snow or water. A rider stands on one surface (the rider-support surface) of an elongated snowboard with his or her feet spaced apart from one another and oriented at various angles oriented generally transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the snowboard. The rider rides the board down snow covered inclined slopes in directions generally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the board with one foot in front of the other in a manner similar to that of surfing. Because of the transverse orientation of the rider's feet with respect to the longitudinal axis of the board, depending on whether the rider puts their right foot forward or their left foot forward, the rider's stance defines one edge of the snowboard to be the “heel side” or “heel edge” (i.e. the edge of the board closest to the rider's heels) and the transversely opposite edge of the snowboard to be the “toe side” or “toe edge” (i.e. the edge of the board closest to the rider's toes).
Snowboards typically incorporate bindings which may increase the rider's control over the board. Bindings typically retain the rider's feet in their generally transverse orientations atop the rider-support surface of the board and assist the rider to transfer his or her weight between the toe and heel edges of the board and to thereby assist the rider to turn the board. There are many types of prior art snowboard bindings. Most prior art bindings incorporate a binding base plate or the like which is located on the rider-support surface of the board and is rigidly mounted to the board. The most common type of binding, typically referred to as a “high back” binding, incorporates a back member which projects from the binding base plate on the rider-support surface, such that the rider may lean toward their heel edge (e.g. against the back member) to apply pressure to the heel edge of the board, and one or more straps which extend over top of the foot and bind the foot to the binding base plate, such that the rider may lean toward their toe edge (e.g. against the straps) to apply pressure to the toe side of the board. Another common type of binding, referred to as the “step-in” binding, typically requires that the rider wear a hard shell boot which is secured to the binding base plate, such that the rider can apply pressure to the heel and toe edges of the snowboard by applying corresponding pressure against the interior surfaces of their hard shell boots. Step-in bindings use a variety of techniques for securing the hard shell boot to the binding base plate.
There is a general desire to improve the performance of prior art binding systems and/or to provide binding systems which offer new features over those of the prior art.